The Latest: Luge win keeps Germany atop gold medal standings

PYEONGCHANG, South Korea — The Latest on the Pyeongchang Olympics (all times local):

12:20 a.m.

Chloe Kim’s win in the women’s halfpipe final was the early highlight before attention moved to Alpine skiing and Marcel Hirscher’s victory in the men’s combined. Tuesday finished with a rush of six gold medals.

Canadian curlers Kaitlyn Lawes and John Morris won gold in the debut of mixed doubles, Kjeld Nuis led a Dutch double in the men’s 1,500-meter speedskating final, Italian short-track speedskater Arianna Fontana won the women’s 500 meters in a photo finish and Natalie Geisenberger successfully defended her women’s luge title in a 1-2 finish for Germany. In the cross-country sprints, Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo of Norway won the men’s gold medal shortly after Stina Nilsson of Sweden won the women’s race.

Germany led the gold medal standings with five by the end of the day’s competition, one ahead of Netherlands and two clear of Norway, Canada and the United States.

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11:20 p.m.

American Jocelyne-Lamoureux Davidson has set the Olympic hockey record for the fastest consecutive goals by a man or woman, helping the United States shut out the Russians 5-0. Lamoureux-Davidson scored 6 seconds apart in the second period.

According to the International Ice Hockey Federation, that topped not only the mark previously held by Caroline Oullette of Canada at 16 seconds in 2006 against Italy in Turin but also the men’s mark of 8 seconds apart set by Carl Goran Oberg of Sweden in 1960 at Squaw Valley.

A three-time Olympian, Lamoureux-Davidson also had an assist on the United States’ first goal by Kacey Bellamy. Lamoureux-Davidson started a three-goal second. Gigi Marvin and Hannah Brandt each had a goal.

Up next for the Americans is an early showdown with their biggest rival on Thursday against Canada to wrap up the preliminary round.

10:35 p.m.

Five more cases of norovirus have been reported at the Pyeongchang Olympics, bringing the total confirmed cases to 199 since the beginning of the month.

Of the new cases reported Tuesday, two are in Pyeongchang and two are in Gangneung, the South Korean city where ice sports are taking place.

Authorities say 154 of those affected have recovered and been released from quarantine.

Earlier in the Olympics, about 1,200 security workers were sequestered over norovirus fears, forcing the military to step in to help with security.

Norovirus is a common, infectious bug that causes symptoms including diarrhea and vomiting but doesn’t require medical treatment.

There are signs all over the Olympics reminding people to wash their hands and use hand sanitizer.

10: p.m.

Natalie Geisenberger has another Olympic women’s luge gold medal.

The German star is now the two-time Olympic champion, after finishing off the historic win at the Pyeongchang Games. Germany’s Dajana Eitberger was second and Alex Gough earn bronze, giving Canada its first Olympic luge medal.

Geisenberger becomes the third woman to win consecutive Olympic golds, joining fellow German stars Steffi Martin Walter and Sylke Otto. She also becomes the first woman to win three Olympic luge golds, the two singles races added to the team relay victory at Sochi in 2014.

Erin Hamlin of the U.S. was sixth. Summer Britcher was 19th and Emily Sweeney crashed out midway through her final run. She was being evaluated but a preliminary assessment indicated she may have avoided serious injury.

9:50 p.m.

Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo of Norway has won the gold medal in the classic sprint at the Pyeongchang Olympics.

Frederico Pellegrino of Italy edged out Alexander Bolshunov, an Olympic athlete from Russia, in a photo finish to win silver. Bolshunov got the bronze.

Kalebo, the world’s No. 1-ranked cross-country sprinter, pulled away midway through the race and won by 1.34 seconds while coasting to the finish line.

9:45 p.m.

American goaltenders Nicole Hensley and Alex Rigsby wore the Statue of Liberty on each of their helmets, uncovered and untouched before their game with the team from Russia.

The IOC reportedly ordered Hensley to cover up the Statue of Liberty over the left side of her helmet and Rigsby to blanket over her smaller version at her chin.

But Andrea Mazzarelli of USA Hockey tells The Associated Press that the masks are approved as is, requiring no modifications.

The Americans had not listed a starting goalie in their pregame notes, and both Hensley and Rigsby were on the ice for warmups.

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9:40 p.m.

Sweden’s Stina Nilsson won the women’s cross-country sprint from Maiken Caspersen of Norway and Yulia Belorukova.

Yet again, there was no medal for an American woman.

Jessica Diggins failed in her quest to become the first American woman to win an Olympic medal in cross-country skiing, placing sixth.

For Nilson, it is the second career medal after taking bronze in Sochi four years ago.

Diggins reached the finals after beating out Natalia Nepryaeva, an Olympic athlete from Russia, in a photo finish in the second semifinal heat. Diggins had the fourth-fastest time overall in the semifinals. She was more than 11 seconds behind the leader in the finals.

9:35 p.m.

Another night at the Olympic Oval and another Dutch double in speedskating.

Kjeld Nuis set off at a blistering pace and had more than enough to hold off teammate Patrick Roest for a time of 1: 44.01, clinching a fourth gold medal for the Netherlands in as many Olympic races. The 22-year-old Patrick Roest took silver, 0.85 seconds behind. Kim Min-seok of South Korea took bronze.

With 8 of 12 medals, the Dutch kept up the stunning medal pace of the 2014 Sochi Games, where they finished with 23 out of 36.

The event was seriously affected by the exclusion as part of the Russian doping scandal of Denis Yuskov, who has been a dominating force over 1,500.

9:35 p.m.

Emily Sweeney of the United States has crashed in the final run of the women’s luge event at the Pyeongchang Olympics.

Sweeney lost control around Curve 9, the track’s most treacherous spot, and then began careening all over the track. She wound up sliding feet-first up one curve toward the track roof before getting thrown from her sled.

Sweeney remained on the ice for several minutes, then was able to sit on the track wall while medical personnel tended to her.

The competition was delayed while she was evaluated. There was no immediate word on the nature of her injury.

9:25 p.m.

Arianna Fontana of Italy has won the women’s 500 meters in short-track speedskating.

That makes Fontana the second woman to claim short track medals at four different Winter Olympics.

There was a photo finish for first involving Fontana and Choi Min-jeong of South Korea.

But Choi was penalized much to the dismay of the local fans who chanted her name.

As a result, the silver medal goes to Yara van Kerhof of the Netherlands and the bronze to Kim Boutin of Canada.

Elise Christie of Britain finished fourth.

9:20 p.m.

Canada has beaten Switzerland 10-3 to win the first Olympic gold medal in curling mixed doubles.

The event made its Olympic debut in Pyeongchang.

Switzerland conceded in the sixth end of the match after missing an opportunity for a takeout with its last shot of the end. That gave Canada another two points. Seeing no way to come back from the deficit, the Swiss ended the game.

Switzerland earns the silver medal. Russia beat Norway in an earlier match to claim the bronze.

9:00 p.m.

The U.S. has failed to make the A final in the men’s 5,000-meter relay in short-track speedskating.

The team of J.R. Celski, Thomas Hong, John-Henry Krueger and Aaron Tran finished third in their heat, relegating them to the B final. Four years ago in Sochi, Celski was part of the U.S. team that earned a silver medal in the event to keep the Americans from a complete shut out in speedskating.

The home crowd cheered South Korea to victory in the heats. Besides the host country, the final on Feb. 22 will feature China, Canada and Hungary.

8:40 a.m.

Ingvild Flugstad Oestberg, the 2014 silver medalist from Norway, finished fourth in her quarterfinal heat and failed to advance to the semifinals of the women’s classic sprint.

Americans Jessie Diggins and Sophie Caldwell are still in contention and hoping to set a new benchmark for the United States. No American female has ever won an Olympic cross-country skiing medal.

Diggins appears to be the best hope. She had the second-best time in the quarterfinals, behind only Yulia Belorukova, an Olympic athlete from Russia.

Maiken Caspersen Falla, the gold medalist in the event in Sochi, was also among the 12 to qualify for the semis.

8:15 p.m.

American John-Henry Krueger has advanced to the quarterfinals of the men’s 1,000 meters in short-track speedskating.

Krueger won his heat, avoiding a collision that knocked down two other skaters.

His teammate, J.R. Celski, wasn’t so lucky. The three-time Olympian was taken down in a three-man crash that caused him to need work on his right skate.

Pavel Sitnikov, the Olympic Athlete from Russia who caused the pileup, was penalized for impeding.

That left Celski and two other skaters to compete in the re-start. Celski was in contention early before finishing third, one spot out of advancing to the next round on Saturday.

7:25 p.m.

American teenager Maame Biney has been eliminated from the 500 meters in short-track speedskating.

Biney landed in a tough quarterfinal that included former world champion Fan Kexin of China. The 18-year-old from Virginia trailed throughout after trying to go for the lead early and getting crowded out by Fan and Sofia Prosvirnova of the Olympic Athletes from Russia.

Only the top two in each heat advance to the semifinals later Tuesday.

Tough luck also befell medal contender Marianne St-Gelais of Canada, who was penalized for impeding shortly after the start of her heat and left the ice.

Among those moving on are Arianna Fontana of Italy, Elise Christie of Britain, Kim Boutin of Canada and crowd favorite Choi Min-jeong of South Korea. Choi survived a three-way photo finish for second and the crowd cheered wildly when she advanced.

7:10 p.m.

Jarl Magnus Riiber has led all three jumps in training for the nordic combined individual Gunderson normal hill at the Pyeongchang Olympics.

The 20-year-old Norwegian hasn’t won on the World Cup circuit this season and upstaged the gold medal favorites on the eve of the normal hill final.

Japan’s Akito Watabe, who leads the World Cup standings, had a second-place finish and a third-place finish in Tuesday’s training at Alpensia Ski Jumping Center.

Norway’s Jan Schmid, who is second in the standings, finished fourth in the final jump for his best result of the day.

Nordic combined features ski jumping and a cross-country ski race. The athlete who wins the ski jumping stage starts first followed by the remaining athletes in their order of finish.

Meghan Agosta and Melodie Daoust each scored a goal and an assist. With the win, the Canadians now have outscored consecutive opponents 9-1 going into their preliminary round showdown against their biggest rivals, the United States.

Finland came to the Olympics third in the world, yet the Finns have scored just two goals combined against Canada and the United States. The Americans play the Olympic athletes from Russia in the second game.

Captain Marie-Philip Poulin and Jillian Saulnier also scored. Shannon Szabados made 22 saves for the win.

6:45 p.m.

They were born in America, but members of Nigeria’s first-ever bobsled team say they’re representing the culture they were raised in. For these first-generation immigrants, their African heritage is second nature and a chance to show the world their pride and pioneering spirit in Pyeongchang.

Akuoma Omeoga grew up in Minnesota, where she was raised on Nigerian food, language and culture. Next week, the 26-year-old will represent her parents’ homeland in the Winter Games. She’ll hurtle down the bobsled track with her tresses dyed green as a tribute to the country. The other team members are fellow brakeman Ngozi Owumere and driver Seun Adigun.

The country is one of eight African nations competing in South Korea as part of the largest contingent of African athletes ever at a Winter Games.

4:45 p.m.

Olympic flag bearer Pita Taufatofua is concerned about his home country of Tonga after it was hit by a cyclone that destroyed Parliament House as well as churches and homes.

The 34-year-old cross-country skier thanked people on Facebook for their messages of support and said he still hasn’t heard if friends and family are safe.

Taufatofua gained international attention at the Winter Olympics when he marched bare chested into the opening ceremony carrying his country’s flag. He also marched bare chested in the opening ceremony of the 2016 Summer Games in Rio, albeit in more mild conditions.

Now that he’s in South Korea preparing to compete, part of him wishes he was back home with his countrymen. In the meantime, he is looking to help raise funds for the damaged country.

He competed in the Summer Olympics in taekwondo and decided to try his hand at cross-country skiing. He only picked up the sport within the last two years, but managed to qualify for the games on his last attempt.

3:50 p.m.

Marcel Hirscher of Austria has won the men’s Alpine combined event, the first career Olympic gold medal for one of skiing’s greats.

Hirscher used his elite skills in the slalom leg to rise from 12th place after the opening run of downhill.

The fastest downhill racer, Thomas Dressen of Germany, dropped to ninth place, trailing Hirscher by 2.44. Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway did not even bother to race the slalom despite placing second in downhill.

Hirscher has a record six overall World Cup titles as the season’s best all-round skier, and four career world championships gold medals.

But he had taken just a silver medal — in slalom at the 2014 Sochi Olympics — from two previous Winter Games.

3:20 p.m.

Shaun White has won halfpipe qualifying at the Pyeongchang Olympic Games and will drop in last for what’s shaping up as an epic final.

The two-time gold medalist scored a 98.5 to edge Australia’s Scotty James for the prime spot in Wednesday’s three-run final.

Sochi silver medalist Ayumu Hirano of Japan finished third.

Hirano won the Winter X Games last month with back-to-back 1440-degree double corks, a combination that had never been successfully landed in competition. White has said he’s working on the same tricks, while James has the most technically on-point package in the game.

2:30 p.m.

Ryan Zapolski will start in goal for the U.S. men’s hockey team in its opener against Slovenia.

USA Hockey announced the decision Tuesday, removing the kind of intrigue the women’s team had before naming Maddie Rooney.

Zapolski was the no-doubt No. 1 goaltender. He was the first player late general manager Jim Johannson brought up to coach Tony Granato last summer. The 31-year-old from Erie, Pennsylvania, has been one of the best players in the Kontinental Hockey League this season.

1 p.m.

The International Ski Federation is being hit hard with questions about why it allowed the women’s slopestyle event to go ahead amid bitter winds and iced-over jumps.

Forty-one of the 50 runs ended with either a rider falling or bailing out because she could not build up enough speed to reach the crest of a jump.

Federation spokeswoman Jenny Wiedeke says only one team “voiced concerns” about going ahead with the event. She declined to name the country. It was different at the end of the runs when riders complained openly in the mix zone, the area where athletes speak to reporters.

Wiedeke says “we know it was very difficult conditions for the riders.” She says “no athlete is forced to go down and compete.”

Wiedeke says the federation has concussion protocols and “most teams come with their own doctors. Those that don’t, there are local doctors on hand and we also have an official FIS doctor. So there are plenty of people on hand to diagnose if they feel it’s necessary.”

12:25 p.m.

With a long break between the team competition and the ice dance and women’s events at the Pyeongchang Olympics, many figure skaters are leaving the Olympics atmosphere for a few days of quiet training.

The pairs program begins Wednesday and the men take the ice for their individual event Friday, but the rest are off until next week.

Canadian ice dancers Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir and the women’s contingent of Kaetlyn Osmond, Gabrielle Daleman and Larkyn Austman were on their way back to Seoul for a few days of work in an out-of-the-way rink.

Mirai Nagasu became only the third woman and first American to land a triple axel in Olympic competition, helping the U.S. secure its bronze. Now, she’s headed to a secret location outside the host city of Gangneung with teammates Karen Chen and Bradie Tennell to keep the jump sharp. They’ll be joined there by the three American ice dance teams.

Russian and Japanese skaters, meanwhile, are heading to Japan.

11:35 a.m.

Chloe Kim’s coronation is complete.

The 17-year-old from Torrance, California, dominated the Olympic women’s halfpipe snowboarding final on Tuesday, soaring to a gold medal four years in the making.

Kim put up a score of 93.75 on the first of her three finals runs and then bettered it with a near-perfect 98.75 on her final run with the gold already well in hand. With members of her family in the stands, including her South Korean grandmother, Kim put on a show that delivered on her considerable pre-Olympic hype.

Liu Jiayu took silver with an 89.75 to become the first Chinese snowboarder to medal at the Olympics.

A team of Russian athletes have won the bronze medal in mixed doubles curling after beating Norway 8-4 and recovering from a rare tumble on the ice.

The Russians’ win on Tuesday gives them the distinction of nabbing the first-ever Olympic medal in mixed doubles curling. The event is making its Olympic debut in Pyeongchang.

The most dramatic moment of the match came in the third end, or round. Russia’s Anastasia Bryzgalova was strategizing with her teammate Aleksandr Krushelnitckii when she suddenly seemed to lose her footing. She recovered but seconds later, her foot went flying out from under her. She promptly landed on her backside.

It is very rare for a curler to fall in professional curling.

10:30 a.m.

The first doping case of the Pyeongchang Olympics has been announced.

Japanese short-track speedskater Kei Saito has tested positive for acetalozamide, a diuretic that is also a masking agent which can disguise the use of other banned substances.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport says Saito “accepted on a voluntary basis to be provisionally suspended and to leave the Olympic Village.”

Saito did not race in any event before the test result from a pre-competition sample was confirmed.

CAS says its judging panel handling Olympic doping cases will issue a final verdict after the games are over.

The highest court in world sports handles the prosecution of doping cases, and the International Olympic Committee is responsible for testing athletes.

In a statement, Saito denied intentionally doping and said he was “extremely shocked” by the results.

“I have never considered doping. I have never used anabolic steroids so I have never needed to try to hide it,” he said in the statement.

He said he accepted the provisional suspension because “I do not want to be a disturbance to my teammates competing at the Olympic Games … and will leave the team and the athletes village voluntarily.”

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